Conventional remote center compliance (RCC) devices employ two stages or portions of moveable or deformable elements to provide the necessary combination of independent translational and rotational compliant action. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,001 the RCC device has two stages, one which includes elements that lie along radii from a center and provide rotational compliance, and a second which includes elements that are parallel to each other and provide translational compliance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,169 discloses an RCC device having two stages, one stage including a set of deformable elements which lie along radii from a center and a second stage including a set of deformable elements which are generally transverse to the first. Each set contributes to both the rotational and translational compliance of the RCC device. In another similar RCC device there are two stages including both parallel and conically-disposed elements which are shear pads. In each case the RCC device, in addition to utilizing two stages, also has two foci, one at the convergence of the radii along which lie the elements and a second whose location may be proximate or even at infinity. Attempts to propose an RCC device with fewer than two stages only went as far as the proposal of the use of an annular element of unkown or unpredictable performance. Using Compliane in Lieu of Sensory Feed for Automatic Assembly, Samuel H. Drake, Doctor of Science Thesis, M.I.T., September 1977; see pp. 134-137.